The field of the present disclosure and/or appended claims relates to rechargeable batteries and adapters therefor. In particular, adapter sockets are disclosed and/or claimed herein for use with rechargeable batteries.
A wide variety of batteries, connectors, cables, chargers, and adapters are available for powering electrical equipment of various sorts. Some of these are described in:
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A very common type of adapter makes possible the operation of electrical equipment using 12 V DC power supplied by an automobile battery and/or alternator (if the automobile engine is running). Such car adapters typically plug into the cigarette lighters nearly ubiquitously provided in automobiles, such cigarette lighters usually taking the form of a cylindrical socket with a conductive sleeve and a conductive center contact. The mating adapter plug typically includes a conductive outer shell for making contact with the socket sleeve and a center pin for making contact with the socket center contact. More recently, many auto manufacturers have begun to provide one or more such sockets in vehicles as dedicated power outlets, without also serving as cigarette lighters. While this type of adapter is very useful and finds application in a wide array of situations, the operating device is nevertheless constrained to remain within the proximity of the vehicle. It is often, but not always, the case that the electrical equipment operated in this way is intended to be operated in some other way as its usual mode of operation, and the car adapter is provided for occasions when that usual mode of operation is unavailable or depleted. For example, cell phones and laptop computers usually run off of their own dedicated batteries but may be operated using a car adapter as well.
A well-developed array of cordless power tools have been developed and are available in the professional and consumer marketplaces. Such cordless power tools offer obvious benefits for a user, who is no longer hampered or constrained by a corded connection to a power source while using the tool. These cordless power tools are powered by rechargeable batteries, and typically include a separate recharging unit for recharging the battery (the recharging unit typically being plugged into a household electrical outlet). Such cordless power tools are available for operating at several industry-standard battery voltages (including 24, 18, 14.4, 12, 9.6, 7.2, 4.8, 3.6, and 2.4 volts, although other voltages may be employed), and batteries tend to come in one of only a few industry-standard mechanical configurations for assembly/connection with the tools. Multiple batteries might be employed with one tool, with a first battery in use while the second is recharging. A single battery may also be swapped between different tools (at least those of the same manufacturer). Several adapters have been developed for operating these cordless tools connected to alternate power supplies (in corded fashion), presumably for those situations when a user may not wish to wait for the battery to charge. Such adapters may serve to operate the cordless tool connected to a household electrical outlet (in which case the adapter must include an AC-to-DC converter), to a car battery (in which case the adapter would typically include an adapter plug as described in the previous paragraph), directly to a battery charger (which is in turn typically connected to a household outlet and includes an AC-to-DC converter), or to some other suitable alternate power source.
While use of cordless power tools using alternative power sources has been implemented, use of batteries provided for those tools for powering other devices has not heretofore been contemplated. It would be desirable to enable use of such rechargeable cordless tool batteries (of which millions of units are already deployed and new units are readily available commercially) for portable powering of other devices. Many devices for which such a power source (i.e., a DC battery) would be suitable are already equipped with, or may be readily adapted for use with, an adapter for a car power socket (i.e., cigarette lighter). Use of a rechargeable cordless tool battery would enable portable operation of the devices away from a vehicle.